Bulletproof… I Wish I Was

As we all know from reading books and watching television and movies, if a character does something with malicious intentions that does not necessarily mean they will pay the price for their actions. Such is life and such is fiction. However, in the days of yore when it came to villainous characters in movies, they had to pay for their bad deeds. It was basically a requirement of the studios and the production code. In the 1930’s Warner Bros. made a fortune with their gangster pictures starring James Cagney in part because audiences loved James Cagney – even though he was playing a criminal. No matter how much the audience was rooting for Cagney, at the end of the picture he was still a criminal and therefor he still had to pay for his crimes – usually either by going to prison or dying. Not even the infamous Bette Davis escaped this rule. If the bitch she was playing was particularly heinous, that woman would get her comeuppance in the end.

In a way, the same could be said for Dan Scott. Dan Scott is not a good man. He’s done a lot of bad things to the people of Tree Hill throughout the years, including people who love him and that he claims to love. However, this show has now had six season finales and in every one of them something bad has happened to the Dantichrist. Let’s examine, shall we?

1.22 – The Games That Play Us

During the first season, the Dantichrist saw his marriage to Deb disintegrate. He was shocked to walk into the house they’d shared after coaching the Ravens to a playoff loss and find Deb on the floor in front of the fire place with the Dantichrist’s older brother Keith. The next morning at his beach house the Dantichrist removed his wedding band and was about to sign the divorce papers when he was hit with a heart attack. Deb walked in to find him on the floor and of course the Dantichrist had to have the last word. The last word being to tell Deb that she better hope he died. Deb responded by taking her time to call 911.

2.23 – The Leavers Dance

The Dantichrist was up to his old tricks in the second season. In retaliation for Keith sleeping with Deb, the Dantichrist hired a woman named Jules to seduce Keith. What the Dantichrist did not plan on was Jules falling for Keith and planning to marry him. He also made Deb miserable, tried to get Karen’s boyfriend Andy deported, convinced Nathan to sign annulment papers and told Nathan that the reason Deb turned to drugs and pills was because Nathan moved out. By the end of the year, everyone wanted the Dantichrist dead. While working at the dealership, the Dantichrist received a gift of a bottle of scotch with a note attached saying it was for “everything he’s done”. He later drank it and began to feel groggy. In his drug induced haze he saw someone in black come in. That person then set the dealership on fire with the Dantichrist still inside. He barely made it out alive.

3.22 – The Show Must Go On

The Dantichrist believed that Keith tried to kill him in the dealership fire and so when the school shooting provided him with the opportunity, the Dantichrist killed his brother. In the aftermath he found himself haunted by images of Keith as a child, haunting him and reminding him of what he’d done. He kept the killing of Keith to himself and no one knew it but Deb knew that the Dantichrist blamed Keith for the dealership fire. Just after Nathan and Haley renewed their vows, standing at the altar Deb confessed to the Dantichrist – she tried to kill him. The Dantichrist realized he killed his brother for something Keith was innocent of. When the Dantichrist returned home he found the word “murderer” painted on his walls in red and he knew someone was aware of what he’d done.

4.21 – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone

The Dantichrist spent season four being stalked and trying to assuage his guilt by being there for Karen during her pregnancy. He was constantly being reminded by some unknown person of his guilt through Biblical references, text messages. He thought it could be Whitey, he thought it could be Lucas. It ended up being Abby Brown, a girl who’d been in the tutor center the day of the shooting and saw the Dantichrist shoot Keith. She told Lucas, who confronted the Dantichrist just as he and Karen were getting closer – they had even shared a kiss. The shock was so hard that Karen slipped into a coma and her baby had to be delivered so they could live. The Dantichrist realized he had no choice but to turn himself in. While awaiting his court date, Karen visited him and made sure he knew that when Keith’s daughter Lily asked about her daddy, she’d tell him that he had a brother who he loved and who killed him. After the encounter, the Dantichrist attempted to create a noose from his bed sheets, but as he stepped off of his bunk, the sheets broke. He failed to kill himself.

5.18 – What Comes After the Blues

Now out of prison, the Dantichrist is faced with a problem he cannot control. He needs a heart transplant and he is second on the waiting list. He visits the man who is first, a preacher who has lived a good, fulfilling life. The Dantichrist considers smothering the man with a pillow so he can move to the top of the donor’s list, but he remembers that Jamie considers him his best friend and he stops himself from killing the man. The Dantichrist goes to visit the man again, but is told that he died before he could receive a heart. He is Dan Scott and his number is one. On his way out of the hospital, he helps an old man across the street. As he’s telling him to be careful, the Dantichrist fails to watch as he’s crossing the street. He is stricken by a car and to make matters worse, as he is lying on the pavement, the pager informing him that a heart was available went on.

6.24 – Remember Me as a Time of Day

The Dantichrist has lost out on yet another heart after it was eaten by a golden retriever. Jamie now knows that the Dantichrist is responsible for killing Keith, damaging their relationship. He really has nothing left. He goes to visit Whitey and tells him that he feels if he hadn’t walked out of the state championship game back in high school that he’d be in an entirely different place than he is now. That was the moment it all changed. He then asks Whitey to kill him. He knows he’s going to die anyway, not having a new heart. So he asks his former coach to do the job for him. Instead, Whitey embraces him. As the Dantichrist goes to leave, Nathan arrives and tells his father that he’s there to tell his coach that he’s made it to the NBA. The Dantichrist goes to visit Peyton and Lucas, and finding Peyton on the porch asks if he can hold his granddaughter because she’s the only one who doesn’t know what he’s done. As he’s walking away, he comes face to face with Karen. The Dantichrist is left with nothing and no one, not even Jamie.

Through what has aired of season seven the Dantichrist seems to be back on top as a bestselling author, television host and husband to Rachel Gatina. But even when he’s on top, something could still happen to him when the season concludes. We’ll have to wait until spring of 2010 to find out just what will happen to the Dantichrist this year.

Comment

It Was Just a Joke

Welcome to It Was Just a Joke, a little fan site for the secret greatest show on television. This site is home to our One Tree Hill fanlistings, icons, thoughts, and other random content. Warning: spoilers for all episodes!